Was the Treaty of Versailles a Success? Essay

The treaty of Versailles was a treaty signed at the end of World War I by Germany and the Allies. United States, Great Britain, France, and Italy negotiated the treaty at the peace conference held in Versailles beginning January 18, 1919. The treaty reduced Germany’s armed forces to very low levels and prohibited Germany from possessing certain kinds of weapons, it also established Germany’s liability for reparations. The treaty was supposed to ensure peace and help Europe recover from the war. In my opinion the treaty did not help with any of those two subjects.

One of the ways that the treaty lead to the the rise of Hitler and WWII was through the amount of reparations that Germany had to pay. The Germans suffered so much damage because of the huge price that they had to pay. This massive debt that Germany forced into to a huge economic depression. A lot more people were unemployed than employed and people were struggling to survive. During times of struggle people

The Treaty of Versailles was a formal peace treaty between the Word War I Allies and Germany. The leaders of Britain, France, Italy and the United States met in Paris in early 1919 to draft the treaty. President Woodrow Wilson presented his Fourteen Points, a series of measures intended to ensure future peace. The points included the formation of an international organization known as the League of Nation, which was adopted in the treaty. Representatives of each country signed the treaty in June 1919.

Even though it wasn’t their fault that the war started, the Big Four countries made them sign something that claimed it was their fault and they admitted it. In Document C, it says that Germany was forced to undertake the responsibility for all the damage that was done to the Allies. This made Germany very mad because they also had loses and they didn’t start the war in the first place. In Document D, it states that Germany had to take full blame and accept the consequences, also, that Germans saw the Treaty of Versailles as an evil thing and that it needed to be destroyed, this starting the Nazi party and for Hitler to rise in his power for all the countries to look at Germany as something else, more powerful, and for the countries to fear

On January 22, 1917, Woodrow Wilson addressed the United States Senate appealing for a settlement of conflict for ‘peace without victors’. Unfortunately the Treaty of Versailles was signed by participating nations and could not end the hostilities that terrorized to destroy European Civilization. The Treaty of Versailles is one of the most important social and physical agreement or disagreements that help shape the European 20th century. The treaty was very important because it violated Wilson’s ideals. The Treaty of Versailles was the official end of the World War I and was ultimately the main reason that led to World War II.

After the war, Germany had several of its territories stripped from its sovereignty (Document A). It would lose what was the Polish Corridor in order to create the now country of Poland, (Document A). The Polish Corridor was very important, as Danzig was a port city that allowed the Baltic Sea to be open to the Germans for various trading routes, but also the Corridor was home to rich coals deposits that crucial to Germany’s economy at the time. Germany also lost territories to the west in which was called the “Demilitarized zone.” (Document A). This area of land included the Rhine River Valley, a historic and very industrial area that was also very critical in Germany’s economic decline, as it being lost would strip Germany of two industrialized areas that would produce goods for them to use and sell. However, the depression that would hit Germany did not end there as the Treaty of Versailles not only took key land from them but also forced them to pay the war debt or Reparations (Document C). According to The Economic Consequences of the Peace, Germany had to pay 367 billion US dollars over the course of 30 years starting in 1921, (Document B). They were furious of this, sparking the malice that would later form as a result of this document. They steadily paid this until 1933

In this, a map was created which showed the geographical changes, some of the land lost included: the Polish Corridor, Alsace Lorraine, and a piece of Denmark. The loss of these territories also caused other difficulties for Germans who could be living in those areas, such as discrimination, and the loss of coal production by 40 percent. Since Germany was now split into two, Hitler suggested that it would be “childish and naive” for anyone to believe the Versailles Treaty would solve restoration of their nation, but instead could only be achieve by violence. (Doc A) Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, 1924. This document shows how the treaty helped caused World War I, since Germany was becoming distraught due to land loss, and was now facing economic problems due to the reduced number of coal

This was millions of dollars that Germany had to pay. Second, Germany had to reduce the size of their army. Third, Germany’s colonies were to be divided among the Allies. The treaty had many mistakes. The main mistake was it restricted Germany so much. It made Germany mad and they didn’t like the treaty one bit.

The German army was reduced to 100,000 men, and they were not allowed to have access to any tanks for their military. They were only given permission in the treaty to only be granted access to 6 capital naval ships to help defend their coastline, but they were not given any access to submarines which would help them attack, or become undetected. They were also to agree that the area that was to the west of the Rhineland and the area that was 50 kms east of the River Rhine was to be made into a demilitarized zone or (DMZ). A (DMZ) is an area of which no German soldiers or German aiding weapons are to be allowed. The Allies had agreed that they were to keep a standard army occupied on the west bank of the Rhine for 15 years to be able to hold up these treaty agreements. Also, during the drafting of this treaty, Germany was not allowed to give any input even though that they were the most impacted, and are facing the majority of the consequences.

The treaty of Versailles forced Germany to give up most of its land and population, limit its army

The Treaty of Versailles, signed in 1919, was a peace settlement between the Allied Powers and Germany and it virtually ended the war. The treaty forced Germany to accept full responsibility for the war and peacefully cooperate with the reparations they were asked to pay. Germany was required to make territorial concessions along its eastern and western borders. Being the subject of dispute between France and Germany for a very long time, the ceding of Alsace-Lorraine back to France was a very important event. Along with the land concessions Germany was also forced to pay a great deal of money putting their already failing economy in a downward spiral. Many believe that because the conditions in the Treaty of Versailles were so punitive it laid the foundation for the uprising of Nazi power in Germany, in other words the second World

Terms of the treaty? Germany had to take the blame for WWI, they couldn’t form a union with Austria, their military was reduced and restricted to 100,000 men, no air force, no modern weapons, no tanks, no U-Boats, no battle ships weighing over 10,000 tons, not able to join the league of nations, loss of territory- land given to Belgium, Denmark and Poland, overseas territory lost; Chinese ports, Pacific Islands and African colonies

Like with everything in life there were some negative effects of the treaty. The worst “side effect” was that it lead to World War II giving rise to Hitler’s powers. The Germans were deeply hurt placing “war guilt” on Germany.

Not only did the Treaty force Germans to go into debt and be accountable for paying $31.5 billion dollars, but they also had to declare responsibility for causing the war. Along with that, they faced several military and territorial losses. This action caused Germany to be boycotted by all other nations and yet many were aware of the fact that if triggered, Germany would accept the ways of Bolshevism which would create possible communist regimes. Germany however felt dictated and at first even backed out instead of signing the treaty knowing they could face an invasion. Although Germany ended up agreeing, they were quite dissatisfied and unpleased with the entire contract. The treaty was assumed to be unfair and such harsh commands would only form more disturbance in the future. Due to economic downfalls and hyperinflation, Germany was now more vulnerable than ever. These events provided Woodrow Wilson with the phrase “The war to end all wars” as everyone was affected heavily by the consequences faced and not a single soul wanted to have to envision another war. The nations made compromises and hoped to put an end to the types of government that brought about this

The Successes and Failures of the Treaty of Versailles in Addressing the Causes of Conflict and Restoring Peace and Normality